This week was 50 miles of running and 3000 yards of swimming -- training log is here.
Taper, week 1. And for the first few days I enjoyed it. Needed it. Tuesday's workout was a struggle, run on legs that had done 22 with a fast finish less than 48 hours before. After that, I cut back sharply. Before my last marathon (Shamrock) I did a fairly steep three week taper and thought it worked well, so I decided to do the same this time. So, 45-50 miles with 3 weeks to go, 45-50 miles with 2 weeks to go, and then 15-20 miles in the week before the race.
I'm also tapering all my other activities. This past week was my last week for yoga - I'm skipping that for the next two weeks both to rest and to avoid any contagious fellow yoga students (it always shocks me how many people will drag themselves to a group class when sick - it's really selfish). I'll swim some this coming week (though not much), and then will cut it out for the final week of taper.
I'm definitely starting to feel the benefits of the taper. I had several warning signs over the last two weeks that I was overreaching - high resting HR, insomnia, concentration issues. The first two have resolved. As for my shortened attention span, I seriously doubt that will improve during taper. I'm also starting to get a bit jumpy, with taper anxiety. Did I do enough? Did I do too much? Am I resting too much now? Should I be resting more?
There's no real answer, except not to worry about it and to find something to distract me (I am stocking my Kindle well). In the end, I don't think there's one perfect taper, just as there's no one perfect training cycle or perfect race. Just get to the starting line healthy, and see what happens.
I did race on Sunday - it was one of the best bad races I've had in a while, if that makes sense. It was bad in that I went out too fast, which is a mistake I rarely make. But this was a good time to make it - to remind me to be cautious in the marathon. And working my way through a mental tough patch at the end was a confidence boost of its own. And it was nice to see that I'm now fit enough to run a major positive split and still run just over 40 minutes.
Dailies Taper, week 1. And for the first few days I enjoyed it. Needed it. Tuesday's workout was a struggle, run on legs that had done 22 with a fast finish less than 48 hours before. After that, I cut back sharply. Before my last marathon (Shamrock) I did a fairly steep three week taper and thought it worked well, so I decided to do the same this time. So, 45-50 miles with 3 weeks to go, 45-50 miles with 2 weeks to go, and then 15-20 miles in the week before the race.
I'm also tapering all my other activities. This past week was my last week for yoga - I'm skipping that for the next two weeks both to rest and to avoid any contagious fellow yoga students (it always shocks me how many people will drag themselves to a group class when sick - it's really selfish). I'll swim some this coming week (though not much), and then will cut it out for the final week of taper.
I'm definitely starting to feel the benefits of the taper. I had several warning signs over the last two weeks that I was overreaching - high resting HR, insomnia, concentration issues. The first two have resolved. As for my shortened attention span, I seriously doubt that will improve during taper. I'm also starting to get a bit jumpy, with taper anxiety. Did I do enough? Did I do too much? Am I resting too much now? Should I be resting more?
There's no real answer, except not to worry about it and to find something to distract me (I am stocking my Kindle well). In the end, I don't think there's one perfect taper, just as there's no one perfect training cycle or perfect race. Just get to the starting line healthy, and see what happens.
I did race on Sunday - it was one of the best bad races I've had in a while, if that makes sense. It was bad in that I went out too fast, which is a mistake I rarely make. But this was a good time to make it - to remind me to be cautious in the marathon. And working my way through a mental tough patch at the end was a confidence boost of its own. And it was nice to see that I'm now fit enough to run a major positive split and still run just over 40 minutes.
Monday: Yoga and upper body strengthwork/injury prevention work in the morning, foam rolling at night.
Tuesday: In the morning, 10 miles, including a track workout of 4x1200 (4:38, 4:26, 4:27, 4:29) followed by injury prevention work and 2000 yards easy swimming. Foam rolling at night.
Wednesday: In the morning, 9.4 miles very easy (8:24) followed by yoga. Later an easy 2.5 (8:37). Foam rolling at night.
Thursday: In the morning, 3 miles very easy (8:46) to yoga. After yoga, did another 4 miles (8:09), followed by a few drills+strides, some upper body strengthwork and injury prevention work. Foam rolling at night.
Friday: 8 miles, including a 1600m pick-up in 6:18. Foam rolling in the afternoon.
Saturday: 1000 yards easy swimming and foam rolling in afternoon.
Sunday: 13 miles, including a 10K race in 40:13. Foam rolling at night.
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